Originally issued as a CGS press release on July 21, 2006.
Politics trump policy in this week’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Bolton
Washington DC – On Thursday, July 27, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will host a hearing to discuss the potential renomination of Ambassador Bolton. Bolton, who received a presidential recess appointment last year on August 1, 2005, presently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. To find out why Citizens for Global Solutions opposes a renomination of Ambassador Bolton, read the following statement:
At a moment when the world is coming together to meet major global challenges like nuclear weapons proliferation and genocide, President Bush and his allies in the Senate have decided that the single most important foreign policy issue facing the U.S. is getting John Bolton confirmed. The White House’s decision to reopen Mr. Bolton’s confirmation battle seems to have more to do with electoral politics and less to do with foreign policy.
The decision as to whether Mr. Bolton should remain ambassador should not be conducted in a partisan manner. Debating the nomination prior to the election, a debate which Senator Voinovich inaugurated in a recent Washington Post op-ed titled “Why I’ll Vote for Bolton,” guarantees that partisanship will trump the need for a substantive policy discussion.
President Bush has said on numerous occasions that the United States needs the U.N. and that the international body must play an essential role in helping America and its allies find solutions to the multiple crises we face today. Unfortunately, Bolton has seriously damaged the United States’ 60-year working relationship with the U.N. with less-than-diplomatic tactics; the results of which have led to a further diminution of American influence.
If President Bush insists on moving forward with a new confirmation battle, he should at least encourage a serious discussion about the future of U.S.-U.N. relations – the kind of debate that senators like Voinovich so courageously demanded last year and so sadly now seek to stifle.
In this increasingly interconnected world, we need real leadership and diplomacy at the U.N., not scare tactics and intimidation, the likes of which Ambassador Bolton is prone to employ. The diplomacy that characterized the office of the U.S. Mission to the U.N. prior to Bolton’s arrival is what is needed now more than ever. A Bolton renomination will not only fail to restore the legacy of our nation’s 60-year relationship with the U.N. but will undermine it even further. It is time for a new ambassador.
